Author's blog. I give opinions on what is happening in the publishing industry, in my family, or in my world. It's my blog, and I can say what I want to. See my FTC disclosure at the bottom of my blog page. Visit my website at www.tjbennett.com.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

IMHO Welcomes Kimberly Frost

Welcome back to IMHO, everyone! I’ve had a nice little break over the last couple of weeks, but it’s time to get back to our monthly themed contests and spotlighting authors you should know.

We’re kicking off the month of August by celebrating our theme, “This Kiss, This Kiss.” Each guest author this month is putting her own spin on that theme. As you know, all of our guests will put a signed copy of one of their releases in our tote bag for one lucky winner to take home. Included in that bag will be a copy of my critically acclaimed latest release, The Promise, an outside-the-box historical romance set in Northern Italy featuring a mercenary and the Spanish beauty whose love proves deadly to the men who fall for her. Also included as one of our goodies is a vintage-style handbag featuring our kissing theme (I’ll get a picture up on the blog soon). Plus, the tote bag for carrying your booty (I’m talking about the books, of course) is a funky, Indian-style glittery thang that will make you smile every time you see it.

So, let’s not waste any more time!

Our first guest, Kimberly Frost, claims she was unaware of copyright laws as a child and regularly pilfered famous characters for her stories. Taking fan fiction to new extremes, she once turned Han Solo into an NFL quarterback who married a supermodel. Would-be Witch, her debut fantasy novel that combines humor, romance, and mystery, was released in February 2009. The second book in the Southern Witch series, Barely Bewitched , will hit the shelves September 1st, 2009. (Don'cha just love those covers?) And Kimberly has recently announced she’s accepted an offer for a third book in the Southern Witch series, tentatively titled Halfway Hexed! Unfortunately, neither Han Solo nor any supermodels appear in the series, but she hopes the characters she created from scratch will entertain readers anyway. Kimberly will put a copy of her debut novel, Would-Be Witch, in the tote bag for us this month.

KF: That’s right, TJ. I’ve heard it said that a story is like an iceberg. What appears in the novel is the tip, but the author knows everything below the surface, too.

Over time, Tammy Jo Trask (from my Southern Witch series) has confided plenty that hasn’t appeared in the published books. Here’s a taste…

* * *

I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend until I turned fourteen. Momma had made that real clear. But when the cutest boy in class shares your apple slices at lunch and declares that if he had any secrets, you’d be the only one he told them to, you might be inclined to bend a rule by a year or two…or even seven.

Zach Sutton loved heights, dirt bikes, and football. I thought the dimple in his left cheek when he smiled was so adorable I wanted to put it under my pillow at night.

When he said I should be his girlfriend, I told him that I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend yet.

“But if you could have one? Would it be me or someone else?”

I blushed ten shades of pink and nodded. “You.”

“Well,” he said with a shrug. “That’s done, and we’ll keep it a secret.” Then, he added, “We won’t kiss ‘til we’re both eight.”

The day before my birthday, Zach said I should sleep in my clothes so I’d be ready to sneak out when he knocked on my window at midnight. Since I’d never stayed up past eleven, it was already an adventure.

The night was hot and smelled like honeysuckle. I sat on the handlebars of his bike as he pedaled us down empty roads to Corsic Creek, where he’d stashed a present under the bridge.

“George says on your girl’s birthday you give her flowers,” Zach said, referring to his older brother who seemed to know an awful lot about an awful lot. Of course, George was twelve, so there you go.

“But you’ve got a lot of flowers around your house already, so here.” Zach held the box out.

I unwrapped it and, inside, found a pink-and-black helmet. Not the kind for a bicycle. The cool kind with a visor, for riding on motorcycles.

“I’ve got that bigger dirt bike now. There’re some good trails to Old Town. If you want, I’ll take you with me when I go.”

I nodded, my smile as wide as it could get.

“You know, George said that when you give your girl a present, she’ll give you a kiss.” His denim blue eyes searched my face. “And we’re both eight now.”

My heart fluttered like bird’s wings. Then I put my fingertips on Zach’s jaw, so I wouldn’t lose my place when I closed my eyes.

His lips were soft, and they tasted like Root Beer. Pressing mine against them was as good as letting Hershey’s chocolate melt on my tongue. I stepped back, taking a slow breath.

That was when I decided that if Zach Sutton asked me to marry him, I’d say yes.

* * *IMHO: Kimberly, I think if he’d asked me to marry him when I was eight, I might have said yes, too! (Don’t tell my hubby I said that!) Thanks for that wonderful glimpse into Tammy Jo’s first kiss.

Okay, IMHO readers, for a chance to win a copy of Would-Be Witch and all the other wonderful books in this month’s tote bag, plus the vintage-style handbag, leave a comment and tell Kimberly about your first kiss. (You can check out my contest rules here.)

42 comments:

My first real kiss is still such an intensely private thing that I don't like to go into details for fear of spoiling the magic of it. Let's just say that I pretended to be more worldly about such things than I was - and the guy called my bluff. He taught me what a kiss was supposed to be like...

OMG! I cannot believe that I've never heard of this series. Being a proud southerner myself...I'm clearly ashamed and shocked at myself. Now, I have to get caught up on these books!

Thanks TJ for bringing it to my attention.

Welcome Kimberly Frost (no relation to Robert Frost, right?)! I'm in love with the cover from Would-Be Witch! I dream of having a cover art creation like that someday.

How did you come up with the idea for the series? What's your biggest challenge as an author?

My first kiss...ahem...well it was with a "younger man". Of course, I was in 7th grade and he was in 6th grade at the time so I don't know if you'd exactly call him a "man". He was just too cute and I remember him clearly as being the most popular/cutest boy in the 6th grade. I'm not sure what his fascination was with me other than the fact that I was apparently a "Cougar" in training at the time! LOL

My first kiss was on the playground when I was in second or third grade. I ran home that afternoon and shared with my mother. What a mistake! I listened to a lecture for over an hour about spreading germs. Blah!

Kimber's A: I was reading a lot of humorous mystery, which I love, and a lot of dark urban fantasy, which I also love. So I thought: "What if I put these together? Could I mix humor and horror the way Joss Whedon did on Buffy? I think I'd love to read a story like that, maybe other people would too."

Kimber's A: Being frustrated that there aren't fifty hours in a day! Like lots of writers, I have a non-writing job and other responsibilities that are time-consuming. So it's tricky to be sure that I attend to everything that I need to do while still allowing myself time to be creative by writing books.

(And, right, no relation to Robert Frost. I do love his poem The Road Not Taken, though.)

Thanks for such thorough and awesome answers to my questions. Whew! Did I make you work today or what? Geez! LOL

Well, if I wasn't already sold on your books already this morning...now I would be for sure. Love the fact that you're taking a Joss Whedon humor/horror combo approach to your stories. Some of the writing on that show was pure genius. If only I could nail that! I'm working on it. I'm working on it.

My first kiss was from a boy who lived a few houses down from me. I used to give him my coloring books and he would bring them back all perfectly colored in the lines. We were in my backyard one day and he said he thought i was pretty, so I kissed him. I can't wait for Barely Bewitched!

If I remember right, my first kiss was when I was 7. A bunch of us kids were playing pirates and when it came time for me to be rescued from the bad pirates my hero (a fellow 7-year old) kissed me on the cheek.

I love these stories, everyone! Brought back memories of my first kiss. I was only 6, I think. I kissed a boy in front of the kindergarten class. I was pretty brazen back then. He was my "boyfriend" and I wanted everyone to know. Well, they did, and by the time my dad came to pick me up that afternoon, he knew about it too.

Oddly enough, he just smiled and shook his head when the school secretary told him. I figure Dad wasn't too worked up about me being taken advantage of by a 6-year-old who didn't even have enough of a clue to make the first move! LOL! It was sweet and I don't even remember his name, but I remember he had a crewcut (military base dependant's school).

This book sounds so good that I have added it to my TBR list. I really like the cover, tooMy first kiss was so long ago -all I remember was who the boy was, where we were, and that it was soooo exciting. I remember liking it a lot.JWIsley(at)aol(dot)com

My first real kiss isn't one I recall fondly. In fact, I think we "broke up" shortly after. He certainly didn't taste like rootbeer and his tongue felt like a snake slithering in my mouth. Thankfully the ones that followed from other boys were much better...

Thanks to Kimberly Frost for stopping by today! She was a wonderful guest. We're so glad we had this time together...*singing old Carol Burnett variety show theme*

Anyhoo, be sure to join IMHO next Wednesday, August 12, when Karen Young, multi-published and RITA award-winning author of 35 novels, joins us. She'll give us her perspective on our theme from a slighty different angle as she forays for the first time into inspirational romance. THAT should be interesting!

I was 29 before I got my first real kiss and I am still married to that man 30 years this year. I was taught about waiting until marriage and until I got serious about the man I felt was good marriage material, I was not kissed. It was a kiss to remember too as you see it lasted.enter me to win tote bag of booksjrs362(at)hotmail(dot)com

It wasn't the first, but it was the best (other than my husband, of course :) Freshman year in high school - he was the "Bad Boy" who lived across the street. I was absolutely forbidden to have anything to do with him - wonder how much that added to the experience? I'd been kissed before, but THAT kiss curled my toes and stole my breath.

My first kiss was with this guy I liked in highschool. We went to a movie some friends and right when the movie started all my friends ditched me so me and him were sitting right next to each other (and they all knew i liked him)and after a few minutes he put his arm around me and he kissed me.

Wow, what a little cutie Zach is. :)Well, I don't remember my very first kiss but I do remember my most memorable first kiss. A teenager I had a crush on. I thought I knew what a kiss was until he kissed me. I still remember it because it was so beautifully tender and that was over 40 years ago. lolCarol L.Lucky4750@aol.com

Great blog today, my first kiss was in the 6th grade we were a minute late in getting back to the class and the teacher came outside just as the boy kiss me she sent both of us to the office on the note she said we were being bad. He just sent us back to class!Penney

TJ Bennett

About Me

I'm a published author of historical romance and a former Golden Heart and Daphne Du Maurier contest finalist. My first novel, THE LEGACY, was an April 2008 release. My second novel, THE PROMISE, was a May 2009 release. THE LEGACY was nominated for a Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Booksellers Best Award, and Holt Medallion. My latest novel is DARK ANGEL: A GOTHIC FAIRY TALE, an Entangled Publishing October 2013 release.
Visit my website at www.tjbennett.com, view my tweets at Twitter http://twitter.com/TJBennettauthor, and Like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TJBennettAuthor.

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FTC regulations state that I must advise you that most of the books featured on this blog are donated by their authors for promotional purposes, i.e., for contest giveaways and Random Freebies. That being the case, rest assured that no one is paying me to say nice things. Honest.